When the Clock Strikes Ten
When ''the C''lock Strikes Ten Episode Seven, Season Three, of Cold. Enjoy <3 When the Clock Strikes Ten “Alright.” I called out to my group. “Let’s go check if everyone’s ready, they should be practicing runs right now.” Dawnfur nodded. “We might as well. The rogues are coming today anyways. I’ll check ShadowClan.” She decided. She quickly turned away and padded towards the ShadowClan border. Brownhare sighed. “I’ll do RiverClan, since Minnowfur’s busy with her kits. Those little, furry creatures are being quite a nuisance now aren’t they?” I blushed slightly. I had been spending time with Minnowfur, trying to help her with her kits, playing with them until I had to go do my duty. Tigerstripe hurried towards ThunderClan, and Snowbreeze took the route to WindClan. By now, the snow had thickened until it was a foot deep. My legs were soaked and frozen from standing in the snow all day, and I feared for Minnowfur’s kits. I decided to visit Minnowfur myself, who was settling in well at the Nursery place we set up on the island to keep them all safe. “Hey, Storm.” She greeted me eagerly, licking her three, energetic kits. “They’re happy to see that you’re visiting.” Mosskit scurried forward. “Storm, I caught a minnow earlier today! Blackstorm said it was really tasty, and that I should be an apprentice now!” Wavekit grumbled. “Which isn’t fair because we’re all the same age as Mosskit. Tell Blackstorm that she shouldn’t get to become an apprentice so early! We’re only one moon old!” The black she-cat purred. “Well, nobody knows that the minnow was already on the bank!” She laughed as her brothers both crashed into her and they tumbled on the ground. “I didn’t even have to catch it! The only hard part was lugging it home.” Minnowfur cuffed her daughter’s ear gently and mewed. “You know, these three are getting restless, and they’re only a moon old! It’ll be a wonder how I’ll keep them in tonight...” She didn’t have to say anything else. I knew what she was afraid of. I wrapped my tail around Stonekit, who was playing with my tail. “We’ll have guards watching the Nursery.” I promised. “Your kits will be fine.” Minnowfur shook out her fur. “I want to help with the fighting.” She mewed softly, letting her kits tumble around. “I don’t want to sit back and wait for you guys to risk your lives for me. I’m going to fight with you.” I stared at her. “You really shouldn’t, Minnowfur.” I mewed. “It’s too dangerous. What if you never...” The gray she-cat stared steadily back at me. “It’s a risk I’m going to take. If it gets bad, I’ll return quickly so my kits don’t worry where I am. But other than that, I’m going to help.” “Alright, it’s your choice.” ~ I padded through the ShadowClan forest, hearing nothing but the sound of my own footsteps and the whistle of the wind. I began to feel uneasy, and I wondered if Dawnfur had sent them all to their positions without any prey to eat before the ambush. I couldn’t even smell any of the cats. What if the rogues had found them first and had ambushed'' them''? Fear shot through me, but there wasn’t anything to worry about. The moment I stepped into the clearing, a ShadowClan patrol bowled me over. I let out a yowl of surprise and kicked the first one off. Then I whirled around when Dawnfur shouted. “Halt!” “What in the name of StarClan is going on? I hissed, my eyes angered and fueled from frustration. Dawnfur snorted. “We were practicing, duh.” She fluffed out her fur against the icy cold. “Too bad you didn’t go running towards RiverClan like we wanted.” She turned to the ShadowClan cats. “Alright, we need to reposition that. I’ll go call Flameheart and you guys set up a new strategy to surprise him.” I watched as the two groups hurried to discuss their newest plan. Dawnfur disappeared behind the bracken, and I decided to watch this next exercise. Ferretpelt took charge of the plans, and she yowled. “Okay guys, I have an idea.” She explained her nest plans, insisting that it would work. “We’ll just position behind them, let them pass us, then charge them! That way they have to run towards RiverClan, and we’ll flank them as they go.” The others nodded their approval, and I admired her tight courage and her quiet leadership. The two groups positioned themselves once more, and Flameheart waltzed in. He didn’t sniff the air, nor did he glance around. He walked in like he wanted to pass through normally. I saw Frogleap’s tail lash down, and the two groups leaped out. Flameheart let out a yelp and started for the RiverClan border, his tail flapping out behind him. Dawnfur appeared to stop him, and I purred. “Not bad!” Dawnfur nodded, pleased. “You gave Flameheart a pretty good scare! That’s a good one to use, let’s try another one just to be safe. I’ll call Blackstar himself.” Waving my tail to her, I turned to pad outside. Flameheart followed me, his curious amber eyes searching mine. “You okay?” He mewed softly, his kind voice welcome in my fear. “I’m just afraid that I’ll lose the ones I love in this battle.” I whispered back. “Like if Dawnfur died, wouldn’t you be devastated?” “Of course.” He agreed. “But it’s a risk we have to take if we are to live peacefully without the rogues following us. If they were not here, we would not have lost Reedtail, Shade, and Crowheart to them now would we?” I stiffened at the mention of Crowheart and Shade’s names. Flameheart noticed my discomfort, and he sighed. “I wish they were still here too.” “So do I.” I murmured back. Flameheart watched me go, his dark amber eyes tracking me until I vanished from his sight. I sighed, knowing that perhaps today, more of my beloved friends would be lost. Was this what I wanted? “Hey Storm!” Minnowfur called over. She was hauling small pebbles, and stacking them in the river, causing the riverbed to look like a jagged, uneven pavement. “What’s that for?” I mewed, padding over to her, and nearly lost my footing on the soft riverside. Minnowfur caught me quickly before I could fall in. “It’s so that when the rogues run in and get thrown in the river, they’ll scrape their paws on these uneven and jagged stones.” She mewed, explaining it. “Smart.” Minnowfur stretched. “Do you want to help?” I nodded and started to pile stones beside her. I was careful not to step too close to the bank, so I could avoid sliding into the river we were setting up. Soon, the river was filled with tiny stones, slippery and dangerous enough to cause deep cuts. I leaped over, and told Minnowfur good luck. As I hurried towards the ThunderClan border, I spotted shadows slinking away. Perhaps the ThunderClan cats were only practicing their set up, like the ShadowClan patrols were. But it made me feel uneasy. Tigerstripe was staring at the bramble walls lining the edge of the border. “It’s not right. The WindClan cats have barely any territory so that we can leap out and chase them. They say they have it covered, but anything can go wrong there.” I nodded slowly. “I know, but it’s the only way we can go. WindClan is the other Clan that shares its borders with RiverClan, so we must pass through them to get to ThunderClan.” The dark brown tabby sighed. “True, but it makes me nervous. They aren’t even practicing or setting up! The rogues could attack at any time.” I remembered the shadows I saw earlier, but dismissed the thought. “Are your cats practicing?” “Yes, but not as much. They are tired, and they know that the attack will happen at moonhigh, so they are resting and trying to regain their strengths.” He mewed, stretching a bit. “I better go join them.” He added. Brownhare suddenly appeared behind me. “Snowbreeze assures me that the WindClan cats are fast enough to chase them towards ThunderClan.” “Correct.” Snowbreeze mewed, coming up behind us. “I did some spying while being in their camp, and I know how slow they are. They may be fast compared to other Clans, but they are no math for WindClan’s speed.” She mewed proudly. I smiled a bit and nodded to Snowbreeze, who gave me a tentative smile back. “I think WindClan can handle that.” I mewed, “Let’s check out ThunderClan’s progress.” The rest of them agreed and followed behind me, and we stalked towards the looming trees. “It feels so... different, now that we know that the ThunderClan cats have traps prepared.” I muttered, and Snowbreeze shivered a bit. Brownhare seemed to relax, as if he enjoyed the coolness and the shade under the tree. I still remembered how Shade and I used to play around here, wanting to enjoy every moment of it before leaf-bare came. Now it seemed as though leaf-bare was never going to end. Something flitted at the corner of my eye, and I snapped my head to look. I stared at a shadowy figure in the distance, where the ShadowClan border was. The shape of the head, the way they curled their tail, it looked so familiar. But when I blinked, it was gone. Tigerstripe continued onwards, leading the way to the center of the ThunderClan territory, where WindClan would drive their enemies towards. Snowbreeze tensed a bit as the trees swallowed up the sky, and the coldness of the snow was not welcoming. “We’re-” Tigerstripe began to mew before something jumped out of the tree. “AHHH!” I screamed, leaping back. “It’s a- Oh wait, it’s Dapplestorm.” The light gray she-cat snorted in amusement, and called to her partner waiting in the tree. “I guess this means we’re enough to scare the rogues.” She mewed, with no real warmth in her voice. I stared at her with my sharp blue eyes, knowing that she was pretty much insulting me. She glared back, and then turned away. Tigerstripe leaned over. “That’s Dewheart’s old mate.” He explained. When I stiffened, he hurried to explain more. “When you guys left on your journey, or I should say while you were still being with Dewheart, Dapplestorm had a terrible crush on Dewheart. The young tom was still oblivious of it, and he grew closer and closer to you. In the end, when Dewheart died, he died loving you, not her. She’s jealous.” I grimaced slightly. “So that’s why she hates me so much? Because Dewheart chose me over her?” “Pretty much.” Tigerstripe muttered. Sighing softly, I shrugged it off. “Well he’s dead now isn’t he?” I growled grimly. “It’s something we both have to get over now.” ~ Moments later, we reached the heart of the ThunderClan forests. Several more warriors popped out of the trees to greet us, but many stayed hidden. “The bramble wall is right around here.” Tigerstripe mewed, wadding through a snow drift to reach it. “Luckily this snowfall is hiding it well, so the rogues won’t know what hits them.” Brownhare nodded in approval. “I think this trap is perfect. The rogues won’t know what hit them.” “Let’s go prepare for them then.” ~ “Storm, Storm we have news!” A shrill yowl sounded. Dawnfur appeared, her fur fluffed up and her eyes wide with horror. “Dawnfur, what’s the matter?” I gasped, as of I was not used to seeing Dawnfur so flustered. She was usually level-headed and ready for anything. The pale cream colored she-cat breathed in slowly. “The rogues are attacking, Storm, and the ShadowClan patrols didn’t have enough time to prepare the attack.” I froze. “What?” Dawnfur nodded grimly. “You know what that means, Storm. It’s really here, this time with no plan at all.” “The battle is starting isn’t it?” “I’m afraid so." The End. Category:Cold Category:Cchen3's Fanfics